There always is a demand for more storage. Homeowners, for example, continue to want more space. Many new homes are built with three stall garages and in many instances the third stall quickly becomes a storage area. Homeowners are not the only ones seeking more storage. Businesses now also seek storage. This need for storage has given rise to an entire industry called the self-service storage industry. Amazingly, the self-storage industry has been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the United States commercial real estate industry over the period of the last 35 years. This has grown from a “Mom and Pop” industry in the 1950's to an industry with approximately 46,500 “primary” self-storage facilities in the United States as of year-end 2009, according to the US Census Bureau. Primary U.S. self-storage facility gross revenues for 2010 were approximately $22.0 billion for a national average (mean) of $444,000 per facility or national average (mean) of $9.52 of gross annual revenue per rentable sq. ft. The industry continues to grow. In 1995 approximately 6% of US households rented self-storage units. This number jumped to nearly 1 in 10 US households (HH), or 10% (10.8 million of the 113.3 million US households) that currently rent a self-storage unit. Put another way, there has been an increase of approximately 65 percent in the last 15 years.
Given the increased demand for storage, and a weakened economy, the consumer is interested in home storage. Home storage is easier on the budget since one must rent a self-storage unit. Home storage is also more convenient since the consumer does not have to drive to a remote site to get something out of storage.